Oman's ITA meet focuses on ways to bridge digital divide

(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) 2014 was celebrated on Sunday with an event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Muscat.

Organised by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), the Ministry of Transportation & Communications, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), in cooperation with the Oman Broadband Company (OBC), the event was held under the patronage of Dr Ali Abdullah al Alawi, head of communication in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the presence of Dr Salim al Ruzaiqi, ITA's CEO, and other top government officials.

A release stated that the purpose of WTISD is to help raise awareness on the use of Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) as well as ways to bridge the digital divide.

May 17 of each year marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and creation of International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

ITU adopted the theme 'Broadband for Sustainable Development' this year to help achieve universal access to broadband connectivity and content as well as raise awareness on the need to rely on broadband technology for better and easy communication and connectivity.

The event got underway with a message from Dr Hamadoun I Tour, ITU Secretary General, in which he said, ''Broadband connectivity is a critical element today ensuring that information and communication technologies are used as effective delivery vehicles for health, education, governance, trade and commerce in order to achieve sustainable socio-economic growth.'' Dr Hamadoun also emphasised the role of ITU in fostering the development of broadband.

Abdullah Hamoud al Barwani, general manager of ITA's Infrastructure and e-Services Division talked about the impact of ITU in urging the world to build bridges of communication and dialogue with each other and promote the use of Internet and other ICTs.

He said that in this year's theme, 'Broadband for Sustainable Development' he saw an international recognition of the importance of broadband and its role in advancing the overall development.

He added, "It is estimated that the worldwide number of mobile broadband subscribers will be up to 10bn subscribers by the end of this decade. Not to mention that 90 per cent of data transfer is made through fibre cables.''

At the end of the event, the OBC launched the 2014 Oman Broadband Competition in association with The Research Council.

The terms and conditions of the competition will be revealed on June 15.<

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